About

Dr. Lisa Smith is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Boston University. She is the Founder and Director of the Boston University Psychological Services Center (PSC) and the Director of the Center for Anxiety & Related Disorders (CARD). Her role within these programs is primarily clinical and administrative, with a focus on providing evidence-based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for a wide range of emotional problems and training students in clinical service delivery. Dr. Smith teaches courses in Clinical Supervision in Psychotherapy and supervises clinical practice. She is a graduate of Middlebury College with a B.A. and holds a PhD from St. John’s University. Her clinical training began at St. John’s University, where she worked as a pre-doctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Psychological Services and Clinical Studies. She completed a pre-doctoral internship at Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, NY. Her post-doctoral training included seven years as the Assistant Director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the State University of New York, Health Science Center in Brooklyn, where she treated patients and supervised graduate students, interns, and psychiatric residents.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Social Science
• Medicine
• Physics
• Clinical psychology
• Psychology
• Law
• Genetics
• Surgery
• Orthodontics
• Anatomy
• Social psychology
• Biology
• Microbiology
• Psychiatry

Selected publications

• “I Couldn’t Just Say ‘Can You Go Home Please’”: Exploring UK Adults’ Freedom to Negotiate Alcohol- and Drug-Involved Sexual Experiences

  The Journal of Sex Research · 2026-01-05

  article1st authorCorresponding

  There is limited research on how substance use impacts people's freedom to negotiate sexual activity with others, particularly in distinguishing between alcohol and drug use. This study addressed that gap by exploring how substance use can both extend and constrain sexual negotiation. A mixed-methods online survey of 354 UK adults aged 18-40 examined sexual consent across sober, alcohol-, and drug-involved experiences. This paper focuses on the qualitative data for substance-involved sex only. Three themes were constructed from the data using Reflexive Thematic Analysis: (1) Substance use can facilitate sexual negotiation with others; (2) Substance use opens up new sexual opportunities; (3) Sexual refusal is constrained by relational and event-based influences. Participants described how drugs such as MDMA and cannabis enhanced mutuality and communication, sometimes disrupting traditional sexual scripts. However, gendered power dynamics, social pressures, and time and event-based constraints continued to limit sexual refusal, especially for women. These findings suggest that while drug use can involve ethical and consensual sexual experiences, it can also reinforce existing inequalities. Further research is needed to explore how different drugs, and social contexts, shape (un)ethical substance-involved sexual behavior.

  PublisherDOI

• Research Protocol for Forging New Families in Contemporary Contexts: The Online Sperm Donation Project

  International Journal of Qualitative Methods · 2025-09-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  People looking for sperm (‘recipients’) and people providing sperm (‘donors’) are increasingly connecting via informal online platforms, such as ‘connection websites’ and social networking sites. Typically, research has not focused on this route to conception. Little is known about how people involved in online sperm donation initiate, negotiate, sustain or end their relationships with each other, how power or influence operates within this context, or what the impacts of these influences might be. Previous research has suggested that abuses of power and morally challenging behaviour can occur. The first aim of this project is to explore the interpersonal relationships, power relations and potential abuses of power across the social ecology of online sperm donation. The second aim is to harness this new knowledge to explore the imagined ideal futures of those involved in online sperm donation and to work with them to start to realize these ideal futures. The project comprises three phases: (1) a two-year qualitative longitudinal study following the lives of prospective recipients, donors, and their partners via life story interviews, visual socio-ecological power narratives, and interaction logs; (2) a one-year digital ethnography of five online sperm donation sites; (3) action research workshops with recipients and their partners, donors and their partners, and platform owners, respectively. The multi-modal data will be analysed using narrative, discourse, and thematic analysis. The project will be carried out by a multi-disciplinary team, comprising academics and researchers with psychosocial, bioethical, medical, and legal expertise, and Public Involvement in Research members with lived experience of online sperm donation. The project will produce unique and holistic knowledge of online sperm donation and harness this knowledge to produce impacts across the social ecology that are identified by, and important to, those involved in online sperm donation.

  PublisherDOI

• 603 Quality Improvement Project: Improving Patient Understanding of Dietary Fibre Content Post-Bowel Surgery

  British journal of surgery · 2024-07-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Aim Patients recovering from bowel surgery or an acute flare-up of diverticulitis, are advised to adhere to a low fibre diet and then transition to a high fibre diet. Despite these dietary recommendations, patient-friendly educational materials are lacking. This project aims to investigate:Patient and doctor understanding of dietary fibre contentThe impact of a patient-friendly flyer on patient understanding and satisfaction Method A questionnaire was given to patient’s post-bowel surgery at Northwick Park Hospital, exploring their knowledge of what constitutes low and high fibre food. A questionnaire was also distributed to general surgical doctors (non-consultants), exploring their confidence in giving dietary fibre advice. Resources from the Association of UK Dieticians were used to create a patient-friendly flyer. QR codes were included, connecting patients to high and low fibre recipes. The same cohort of patients were surveyed after reading the flyer, and their knowledge of high and low fibre food groups was remeasured. Results 75% of doctors were ‘somewhat confident’, whilst 25% were ‘not confident’ giving dietary fibre advice. The introduction of patient-friendly flyers increased patients’ ability to recognise high and low fibre food by 57.9%. A 72.7% increase in patient satisfaction with the dietary advise was recorded. Conclusions This project demonstrates poor patient knowledge of dietary fibre content, a lack of patient-friendly resources and low confidence amongst junior doctors in providing such dietary advise. A patient-friendly flyer significantly increased patient understanding and satisfaction and should be routinely provided to patients upon discharge post-bowel resection.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Adults’ Understandings and Experiences of the Capacity to Consent to Substance-Involved Sexual Activity

  The Journal of Sex Research · 2023-04-02 · 11 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Most research on capacity to consent to substance-involved sex has focused exclusively on the implications of alcohol with little attention given to other or additional psychoactive drugs. This study aimed to explore people’s understanding and experiences of the capacity to consent to alcohol- and/or drug-involved sexual activity. UK adults (N = 354) completed an online mixed-methods survey on sexual consent during sober, alcohol- and/or drug-involved sex. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Themes for capacity to consent were: (1) “There is no normative understanding of substance-involved sexual consent,” (2) “Moving beyond the binary of consciousness versus incapacitation” and (3) “Substance-involved sexual decisions are viewed as irresponsible.” The findings illustrated that capacity to consent is nuanced and multidimensional, and that people’s understandings and experiences of capacity to consent to substance-involved sex are not solely individual, but rather, they are also shaped by their environment. We call for a multidimensional view of capacity to consent, where a standard of “unimpaired,” rather than sober, is used and modeled by academics, legislators, and educators.

  PublisherDOI

• Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Embedded in Alginate/Polyethyleneimine Hydrogel as a New Platform to Explore NO-Driven Modulation of Biological Function

  Molecules · 2023-02-07 · 15 citations

  articleOpen access

  Nitric oxide (NO), a small free radical molecule, turned out to be pervasive in biology and was shown to have a substantial influence on a range of biological activities, including cell growth and apoptosis. This molecule is involved in signaling and affects a number of physiologic functions. In recent decades, several processes related to cancer, such as angiogenesis, programmed cell death, infiltration, cell cycle progression, and metastasis, have been linked with nitric oxide. In addition, other parallel work showed that NO also has the potential to operate as an anti-cancer agent. As a result, it has gained attention in cancer-related therapeutics. The nitric oxide synthase enzyme family (NOS) is required for the biosynthesis of nitric oxide. It is becoming increasingly popular to develop NO-releasing materials as strong tumoricidal therapies that can deliver sustained high concentrations of nitric oxide to tumor sites. In this paper, we developed NO-releasing materials based on sodium alginate hydrogel. In this regard, alginate hydrogel discs were modified by adsorbing layers of polyethyleneimine and iNOS-oxygenase. These NO-releasing hydrogel discs were prepared using the layer-by-layer film building technique. The iNOS-oxygenase is adsorbed on the positively charged polyethyleneimine (PEI) matrix layer, which was formed on a negatively charged sodium alginate hydrogel. We show that nitric oxide is produced by enzymes contained within the hydrogel material when it is exposed to a solution containing all the components necessary for the NOS reaction. The electrostatic chemical adsorption of the layer-by-layer process was confirmed by FTIR measurements as well as scanning electron microscopy. We then tested the biocompatibility of the resulting modified sodium alginate hydrogel discs. We showed that this NOS-PEI-modified hydrogel is overall compatible with cell growth. We characterized the NOS/hydrogel films and examined their functional features in terms of NO release profiles. However, during the first 24 h of activity, these films show an increase in NO release flux, followed by a gradual drop and then a period of stable NO release. These findings show the inherent potential of using this system as a platform for NO-driven modulation of biological functions, including carcinogenesis.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Utilizing Prior Learning Portfolios to Rebundle Formal and Informal Learning

  Advances in higher education and professional development book series · 2022-06-24 · 1 citations

  book-chapterOpen accessSenior author

  In this chapter, the authors will explore credit for prior learning (CPL) by portfolio as a high-impact educational practice that can enable learners to weave together disparate learning in meaningful ways while also deepening elements of integrative learning. While portfolio-based CPL is a longstanding educational practice, its utility is often undervalued. The authors will consider why the portfolio process should be a more central feature of academic programs and how it can support student learning and achievement. The authors will share findings of a CPL portfolio case study that directly and indirectly assessed student integrative learning performance and student perceptions of their proficiency. Findings validate student learning as well as increased internal validation of learning and academic confidence. Respondents indicated the portfolio process positively impacted their ability to apply learning, communicate, and create new knowledge. Implications for teaching and learning, program assessment, and administration and policy will be discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• Autistic traits and alcohol use in adolescents within the general population

  European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · 2022-03-23 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  It has been suggested that autistic traits are associated with less frequent alcohol use in adolescence. Our study seeks to examine the relationship between autistic traits and alcohol use in a large adolescent population. Leveraging data from the IMAGEN cohort, including 2045 14-year-old adolescents that were followed-up to age 18, we selected items on social preference/skills and rigidity from different questionnaires. We used linear regression models to (1) test the effect of the sum scores on the prevalence of alcohol use (AUDIT-C) over time, (2) explore the relationship between autistic traits and alcohol use patterns, and (3) explore the specific effect of each autistic trait on alcohol use. Higher scores on the selected items were associated with trajectories of less alcohol use from the ages between 14 and 18 (b = - 0.030; CI 95% = - 0.042, - 0.017; p < 0.001). Among adolescents who used alcohol, those who reported more autistic traits were also drinking less per occasion than their peers and were less likely to engage in binge drinking. We found significant associations between alcohol use and social preference (p < 0.001), nervousness for new situations (p = 0.001), and detail orientation (p < 0.001). Autistic traits (social impairment, detail orientation, and anxiety) may buffer against alcohol use in adolescence.

  PublisherDOI

• The Impact of Maternal Worry on Infant Care Practices

  Academic Pediatrics · 2022-03-17 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Recommendations from a Dialogue on Evolving National Cancer Institute-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center Community Outreach and Engagement Requirements: A Path Forward

  Health Equity · 2021-02-26 · 13 citations

  articleOpen access

  While cancer mortality is declining in the United States, significant racial, ethnic, economic and geographic inequities persist. To help address inequities in cancer treatment, care, support and research, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) instituted the community outreach and engagement (COE) mandate for NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers (CCCs). The Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation designed a convening and listening session on COE with NCI leaders and staff gathering representatives from CCCs and the broader cancer community. This paper captures recommendations from the listening session for the NCI and CCCs to further evolve the implementation and impact of the COE mandate on cancer control and outcomes.

  PublisherDOI

• Anatomic vs Dome Patella: Is There a Difference Between Fixed- vs Mobile-Bearing Posterior-Stabilized Total Knee Arthroplasties?

  The Journal of Arthroplasty · 2021-07-17 · 9 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant U10HD029067

  NIH · $12.1M · 2009

• MA Childhood Obesity Research

  NIH · $6.4M · 2011–2016

Frequent coauthors

• Paul H. Wise

  Stanford University

  40 shared

• Wendy Chavkin

  Columbia University

  37 shared

• Diana Romero

  The Graduate Center, CUNY

  37 shared

• Pamela R. Wood

  The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

  34 shared

• Eve R. Colson

  Washington University in St. Louis

  24 shared

• Michael J. Corwin

  University of California Davis Medical Center

  24 shared

• Denis Rybin

  Boston University

  20 shared

• Tracy A. Lieu

  19 shared

Labs

• Developmental SciencePI

Education

• B.A.

  Middlebury College, VT

• Ph.D.

  St. John’s University, NY